Weird and Wonderful Weekend

Day 16: Saturday, August 25

Talking with a special friend, so cute!

(My second weekend in the Patch was nice...strange, but nice. It is SO weird looking back through my old journal notes to write up this blog - soon I should be caught up! I’m confusing the tenses as I write...sometimes I write as if it’s in the present and sometimes it’s in the past...please bare with me! Eventually I plan to condense and leave out a lot more detail - but for now, I've got lists of things to share!)
If you recall, I had a bit of a scare last night (Friday night) because of the wind/door situation. Al called on Saturday morning to check on me and I really appreciated that. The school counselor ALSO called to check on me, I suppose Al was really concerned about my comfort - that was reassuring. I felt like such a baby when I had to explain it was only the wind and I really was okay. Overall, it was a humorous situation. Turns out Al was planning to head to Meadow Lake that morning, but because of the rain, he decided it wasn’t worth risking that gravel road tour! It gets PRETTY rough when there has been enough rain. Be warned of this if you come to visit :)

sweet little girls and some sweet music

Two neighbourhood girls came over and asked about my piano, it was sitting out in the living room. I asked if they wanted me to play and they said yes, so I began to plunk away (it’s been awhile since I’ve practiced regularly)...They had never heard anyone play piano before, wow! I played “Come, now is the time to worship” and then they took a turn. It was so precious, I really enjoyed that time with them.

Saturday evening was nice; the smell of food cooking (cuz my stove finally works!), the sound of rain and fourwheelers whizzing by...and my dining room furniture was being setup by my new teacher friend Chester! I cooked some supper for us and he assembled my table/chairs - awesome! 

mmm, seems like fresh veggies
don't last long around here...

THANK YOU CHESTER! (he offered to do this!)

Jess - this makes me miss you!

SNAZZY diningroom set - thanks ERFN!

I like Saturdays. I haven’t done much teaching prep, but tomorrow after I go to Mass, I plan on devoting most of the afternoon to teaching stuff.

Day 17: Sunday August 26

Mass was at 10:30, I went in and they were praying, mostly hard to understand...I think it was in Dene? The sweet thing about being in church, among believers - is that I can just pray too and really, God understands all of us - so that was cool.

It was actually literally QUITE cool in there - it’s a structure but not a closed in building....today was a dreary day so I had quite a chill, even though I was wearing tights, dress pants AND a big long sweater! 

I was sitting by myself in a pew near the front for the first while, until a friendly familiar face from the Northern store came to sit near me. There was a lot of prayer, choruses, standing, sitting, some structured rituals, some reading from the ‘word of the Lord.’ It was a beautiful service, but definitely very different from what I’m used to. The gospel message was preached - the priest talked about how we need Jesus to pay for our sins, and we serve ONE God who alone is Holy. The Priest/father welcomed us to the “celebration of God’s love” and I really did feel God’s love. It was a bit dark and dreary and unfamiliar...but I’m glad that I went, I think it was more valuable than not. I was happy to be in a room with other people who at least believe in God or the idea of Him! There were mostly middle aged to elderly people there...I noticed ONE child below the age of 10, and she's from my class, so that was neat. They were sitting directly in front of me.

There was a man who was playing guitar at the front of the building and I recognized him. He said hi after the service and asked if I was the new teacher. We had met at the beach, he’s one of the elders. I reminded him of my name and told him that I’m teaching Grade 2....his response was: “ah yes, I have to be back to grade 2”... Hmm...no thanks!

I met the husband of the lady from the Northern Store and he asked, “What religion are you?” I explained that I have faith/relationship with God, Jesus (or something to that effect) and he answered with: “Oh, everyone here is catholic.... perhaps you’ll switch by June!” That was an interesting chat!

Later that afternoon, I headed to school to get some planning/organizing done and a few students were in the school because the gym was being used for sports. One girl said to me, “You’re from Ontario?” I wish I was from there...so that I could see Justin Bieber!” The girls were helping me rearrange desks in my classroom.

Alright, time to head into my first full week of teaching!